Looks Like Obama Will Take the Boy Scouts Up on Their Offer...

From the American Humanist Association:

(Washington, D.C., March 03, 2009) Humanists are reacting to a comment today from a Boy Scouts of America spokesperson stating that President Barack Obama has indicated he will accept the title of honorary president of the BSA.

"If President Obama does this, it will send an implicit message to nontheists that discrimination against them is permissible," said Roy Speckhardt, executive director of the American Humanist Association.

In a White House meeting this afternoon, Obama officially received the Boy Scouts' 2008 Report to the Nation. Every U.S. president since William Howard Taft has served as honorary head of the Boy Scouts.

As I stated before I was a scout for much of my youth and loved every minute of it but that was really before the Mormon Church took over and started to exclude Atheists and Homosexuals.

I'm a bit disappointed in this I really thought that Obama may reject the scouts offer due to his mother beliefs (or lack there of). The only way that the boy scouts will change is with public pressure. We have to take a stand and take back scouting from the church. One of Americas best institutions for children is teaching them intolerance and we cannot stand for that. It kills me that something so important to me now wants to exclude people like me.

Dawkins Responds to Oklahoma State Resolution

Here's the opening of his talk at the University of Oklahoma.



Dawkins also donated $5,000 to the Oklahomans for Excellence in Science Education.

Dawkins Banned from the OK State?

Well maybe not that state itself but at least from the states most well known university, the University of Oklahoma.

Oklahoma State Reprehensive Mike Thompson Todd Thomsen has put forth House Resolution 1015 which opposes the invitation to Richard Dawkins to speak on the University of Oklahoma campus and encourages the University of Oklahoma to engage in a certain discussion of certain scientific theories; and directing distribution.

This resolution is in response to Oxford University Professor and Darwin Chair Richard Dawkins benign invited to speak at the University of Oklahoma’s a year-long celebration of Darwin’s 200th Birthday and the 150th anniversary of Darwin’s theory of evolution. Dawkins is known as one of the leading experts on Darwin’s theories of evolution and one of the most respected Zoologists in the world.

The resolution sites Dawkins 2006 book The God Delusion as the main reason as to why they do not see it fit for him to speak at the university.

WHEREAS, the University of Oklahoma, as a part of the Darwin 2009 Project, has
invited as a public speaker on campus, Richard Dawkins of Oxford University, whose published opinions, as represented in his 2006 book “The God Delusion”, and public statements on the theory of evolution demonstrate an intolerance for cultural diversity and diversity of thinking and are views that are not shared and are not representative of the thinking of a majority of the citizens of Oklahoma; and

WHEREAS, the invitation for Richard Dawkins to speak on the campus of the University of Oklahoma on Friday, March 6, 2009, will only serve to present a biased philosophy on the theory of evolution to the exclusion of all other divergent considerations rather than teaching a scientific concept.

This is complete and utter bullshit, not only does it present freedom of speech and expression issues, it is also incredibly hypocritical saying that they feel that all view should be expressed at the university yet they are trying to censor the purely scientific view in which they do not agree with.

Kirk Cameron asks "Have you questioned your faith in Atheism?"

Yes our favorite late 80's trouble maker has a message for you!

You may think I posted this video as a joke and in a way I guess I kind of did but the truth is he does have a point, if you don’t question your beliefs (or lack there of) then are you really any better than any of the dogmatic religious folks that we look down upon? I guess what I’m trying to say is that I agree with Kirk you shouldn’t be an atheist because you think its cool (which it totally is) you should be one because that is the logical conclusion that you have come to. Look at the facts and then make your choice. I think it’s a rather easy one to make but everyone is different. If the Atheist Bible can change your opinion on weather or not there is a god then you were probably never really never that solid in your beliefs to begin with.

Quote of the week.

There has really not been a whole lot to post about this week so I'll leave you with one of my favorite quotes from one of my favorite authors:

"I am against religion because it teaches us to be satisfied with not understanding the world."
- Richard Dawkins

Bus ads hit Madison

The Freedom From Religion Foundation debuted six free thinking bus ads last week in Madison Wisconsin. The ads took quotes from six famous freethinkers or skeptics of history including Clarence Darrow, Emily Dickinson, Butterfly McQueen, Mark Twain and Richard Dawkins. If you are riding a bus in Madison within the next few months you may look up and see this:

This is not the first bus ad that the Freedom From Religion Foundation has had with Madison Metro. In 1983 after stopping a state/church violation involving Madison Metro placing free ads saying, "Keep Christ in Christmas," for the Knights of Columbus the Foundation's got equal time with it’s first bus add which read: "The Bible: A Grim Fairy Tale." In 1984, the Foundation placed a second bus sign, showing a delighted Mary running out of the stable exclaiming, "It's a Girl!"

The Foundation is also known for its national billboard campaign which they started in late 2007 and have already reached about a third of the states. The billboards have several different messages such as: "Imagine No Religion," "Beware of Dogma," "Praise Darwin: Evolve Beyond Belief" and "Keep Religion OUT of Politics."

Ok here’s my take on all of this…I love that they started a national billboard champing in 2007 to me this is the best way to get our message out there, but once again I have an issue with placing the ads on a bus that is owned and operated by the state. In 83 they sued the state of Wisconsin because they ran a Christian ad so now isn’t it a bit hypocritical to place an ad about religion in 09? If you want to keep church and state seperate then you need to keep your own church seperate (or lack there of) as well.

And this is why Church and State don't mix...

As you know I have been following the Canadian atheist bus add story pretty closely and I have expressed my concerns about putting a religious (or lack there of) message on a state owned vehicle. Well this is exactly why I questioned the idea:

From the Edmonton Sun:

The Roman Catholics have talked about wanting equal space for their perspective and now the Islamic Supreme Council of Canada says they’re planning to buy their own bus ads promoting an all-faith approach to religion.

“It’s not an appropriate place (for the debate) but the other group decided to take this path,” Imam Syed Sohawardy said Thursday.

“We would love to have them in our places of worship and in our community centres so we can sit down and talk.”

The Islamic council already has the funding to place ads on five buses and it’s hoping to raise more money to buy more advertising space.

“It should be some slogan like, `God is merciful, God is with you and enjoy your life,’ ” said Sohawardy.

This puts TTC in a tough spot because they now need to give equal time and space to any religion that wants to be heard. Instead of promoting a positive view on atheism it has created more of a battleground for ad space. I guess this is not a terrible thing for TTC I'm sure with the economy in its current state ad sales have dropped a bit and this will provide them an entirely new client base but you have to ask your self do you really want various religious groups being that large of a client to a government run program?

You can ask why is this a bad thing it’s getting a ton of publicity and all publicity is good publicity right? Well yes if you’re an out of work actor who is looking to get their name out there but in this case I think it’s a bad thing it will only galvanize religious groups against atheists which will only tighten their grip on their followers by giving them another reason to fight against us.

If this was done on a privately owned billboard this would be a non-issue, the ads could stay up as long as there was funding to pay the rent and it would be up to the owners discretion if they wanted to give equal time and space to other groups. Church and state will never mix well because the state ahs to be fair to all of its citizens (in theory) while the church does not.